karen steely <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> blockList=["oneURL", "anotherURL"]
...
> I want to manage the blockList externally so that if
> the URLs change, I don't have to reload the movie.
> I've got a blocklist.txt file in the same folder as
> movie.
...
> How can I get those URLs into my blockList list?
Hi Karen,
You'll find below three handlers, one for writing a list of strings to a
text file, one for reading the lines of a text file in as items in a list,
and one to show an alert if something goes wrong.
The handlers check at each step that no error has occurred, warns the user
of the problem, and stops trying. They also ensure that any opened files
are closed again. That accounts for most of the code.
The vital parts are:
-- Writing to file
tCount = aList.count
repeat with i = 1 to tCount
tItem = aList[i]&RETURN
tFileIO.writeString(tItem)
end repeat
-- Reading from file
tList = []
repeat while TRUE
tItem = tFileIO.readLine() -- includes final RETURN
if tItem = "" then
exit repeat
end if
delete the last char of tItem -- RETURN
tList.append(tItem)
end repeat
return tList
A good way to learn from this would be to print out the code and read
through it, making notes in the margin on the purpose of each section. Once
you're happy with the way the code works, try to rewrite it from memory (or
just from your notes) in Director. You can ignore any sections which are
unnecessary in your project (for example, those which allow the user to
choose a file if none is specified).
Cheers,
James
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
on writeOutList(aList, aFileName)
if not listP(aList) then
exit
else
tCount = aList.count
if not tCount then
exit
end if
end if
-- If we get here, we have a list with at least one item
tFileIO = xtra("fileio").new()
if not stringP(aFileName) then
aFileName = tFileIO.displaySave("Save list as", "Untitled.txt")
case aFileName of
"", VOID: --the user canceled the dialog
exit
end case
end if
tFileIO.openFile(aFileName, 0) -- write only
tStatus = tFileIO.status()
case tStatus of
-37: -- "Bad file name" -- The file does not exist: create it
0: -- The file does exist: overwrite it
tFileIO.delete()
otherwise:
return errorAlert("write to", aFileName)
end case
tFileIO.createFile(aFileName)
if tFileIO.status() then
return errorAlert("create", aFileName)
end if
tFileIO.openFile(aFileName, 0) -- write only
if tFileIO.status() then
return errorAlert("open", aFileName)
end if
-- If we get here, we have an open file that we can write to
repeat with i = 1 to tCount
tItem = aList[i]&RETURN
tFileIO.writeString(tItem)
if tFileIO.status() then
tFileIO.closeFile()
return errorAlert("complete writing to", aFileName)
end if
end repeat
tFileIO.closeFile()
return aFileName
end writeOutList
on readInList(aFileName)
tList = []
tFileIO = xtra("fileio").new()
if not stringP(aFileName) then
aFileName = tFileIO.displayOpen()
case aFileName of
"", VOID: --the user canceled the dialog
exit
end case
end if
tFileIO.openFile(aFileName, 1) -- read only
if tFileIO.status() then
return errorAlert("read from", aFileName)
end if
repeat while TRUE
tItem = tFileIO.readLine() -- includes final RETURN
if tItem = "" then
exit repeat
end if
delete the last char of tItem -- RETURN
tList.append(tItem)
end repeat
tFileIO.closeFile()
return tList
end readInList
on errorAlert(aString, aFileName)
alert "Could not "&aString&&" the file:"&RETURN&\
QUOTE&aFileName"E
end errorAlert
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